Insurance coverage for Ayurveda treatment cleared

The Union Ministry of AYUSH has cleared insurance coverage for Ayurveda treatment, and guidelines for the same were formally notified on Wednesday.

The notification says that the guidelines were finalised after formal talks with representatives of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, the Ayurvedic Hospitals Management Association (AHMA), and the insurance companies.

Welcoming the move, general secretary of the Ayurveda Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI) D. Ramanathan said that his organisation and the AHMA had been following up the issue with AYUSH for the past seven years.

Dr. Ramanathan said that till 2009, insurance coverage was available for Ayurveda treatment. But the insurance companies unilaterally dropped that facility.

As per the notification, 20 disease conditions needing hospitalisation of patients and indicative therapies have become eligible for insurance coverage. The coverage will be applicable only to Ayurveda hospitals described eligible in the notification

Such hospitals are Central or State government hospitals, NABH-accredited Ayurveda hospitals, Ayurveda medical colleges recognised by the Central government or the Central Council of Indian Medicine, and Ayurveda hospitals having registration of a government authority and having a minimum of 15 beds, five qualified Ayurvedic doctors, and adequate number of paramedical staff.

The notification stipulates benchmark treatment rates. The notification also states that similar guidelines for insurance coverage for yoga, homoeopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Naturopathy will also be notified soon.